


Sleep

by whatcookie



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-22
Updated: 2015-08-22
Packaged: 2018-04-16 14:14:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4628313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whatcookie/pseuds/whatcookie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nico doesn't sleep. Except when he does...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sleep

The first time it happens, its an accident.

At first, it was supposed to be just Jason and Piper. Chiron put the kibosh on that, and sent Nico along. He seriously said he was putting the kibosh on it. Piper has a new favorite word.

They’d been out for a couple of days, and Nico hasn’t really slept yet. Piper watches Jason get more and more worried. Nico looks deader than usual, which is saying something, but he’s performing his chaperonely duty.

(Not that he needs to. Piper figures it will take at least another year of working on Jason to get him in her bed to sleep, let alone anything else. She’s okay with this.)

Finally, Jason puts his foot down. They’re getting a hotel room. He needs to sleep on a real bed, he says. He wants to be well rested before they find the nest, he says. Nico doesn’t buy it, but what can he do?

The room has two beds.

Nico flat out refuses to let Jason sleep with Piper. He looks so offended by the idea, that Piper agrees immediately. She has a timeline for that anyway.

Jason flat out refuses to let Nico sleep on the floor. If Nico’s on the floor, so is he, which is ridiculous.

Nico flat out refuses to let Jason sleep on the floor.

This is getting insane.

“Nico, you’re sleeping with me. Jason, go to bed.” Where the hell did that come from?

Who cares. She’s tired. She commits their faces to memory, both for Annabeth and Hazel, and for her someday children.

She climbs into bed, and hears Jason flop into the other. Nico … He gets into the bed. Not in his usual way. (She’s seen him. Flopping face first and shaking the whole building.) Its almost like he’s trying to not be there. Hoping she’ll fall asleep first and he’ll be able to get away.

He’s out like a light in less than a minute. So is she, for that matter.

Piper comes back to earth slowly. Her dreams weren’t exactly peaceful, but not nightmares, either. There’d been a cat. She’s under a heavy blanket she doesn’t remember being on the bed, and something is squishing her left boob.

She opens her eyes to the strangest sight. Nico Who Shall Not Be Touched Ever di Angelo is sprawled on top of her, with his ear resting on her chest. She’d apparently been petting him in her sleep, because one hand is still in his hair (the other is asleep, caught under him somewhere; she pulls it out without waking him).

He’s been asleep for 10 hours. She decides seeing how long it takes him to wake up on his own is her new quest.

He wakes up, not on his own, and is prevented from running by the cyclopes coming through the door. After that, he has to take Jason back to camp to get that leg looked at. And by then, the whole thing was forgotten.

Except by Piper, but she’s not telling.

**

The second time, its Percy. Its also really weird.

Percy isn’t used to being a source of comfort. Not really. Strength, sure. Humor, definitely. Comfort, not so much. He doesn’t keep still long enough.

So waking up in a freezing cold tent with Nico doing a fair imitation of an octopus on top of him is just weird. The kid’s head is resting on Percy’s chest. He’s not even twitching, not like he normally does. Nico’s nightmares are quiet things, with lots of small movements and tiny sounds you really have to listen for. It comes from being alone so long, Percy figures.

This is the first time Percy has ever seen Nico di Angelo … peaceful. He’s seen the him calm, sure, and still, but not peaceful. Percy moves his arms to a more comfortable angle (read: wrapped around the kid to keep him warm and to keep him from running as soon as he wakes up). He knows about the crush, but he’s pretty sure Nico’s over it. He hopes so anyway, for Nico’s sake.

Percy is a source of strength. Percy is a source of humor. Percy finds out that morning that he’s also a source of warmth, and entirely too protective of kids in his care.

Nico is the oldest kid Percy has ever met. He’s met some old ones, too. Street kids are always old. Nico can be old again when he wakes up. So Percy holds him like a good big brother, and lets Nico be a kid for as long as he can.

Right until Mrs. O’Leary decides to barge into the tent.

The weirdest thing: Nico doesn’t run.

**

The third time there’s no more avoiding it.

They are at Frank’s apartment in New Rome. Hazel and Nico sharing a couch, everyone else sprawled around the rest of the room. It was their new tradition: Introduce the Out of Timers to the Wonders of Modern Culture. Today’s offering: The Princess Bride.

Nico is tired. Its been weeks since he’s slept. He starts to drift off as The Man in Black is climbing the Cliffs of Insanity. He kibitzes his way through the sword fight with Indigo. (Reyna hits him with a pillow. He’s not offended.) He conks out right after The Man in Black knocks Indigo out, and Hazel finds herself with a lap full of her brother, and his head on her chest. Her quiet squeak draws everyone’s eyes, but Nico doesn’t even twitch.

“Hazel, you okay over there? Need a pillow or anything?” Nico is a kid again. Percy is going to keep him that way. Piper checks the time. He’s going to sleep himself out this time.

Hazel pets his head. Nico snuggles in deeper, winding his arms around her back. “Yeah, a pillow would be good.” Nico makes a happy sound.

“He did that to me that a couple of weeks ago.” They tuck pillows behind Hazel’s back and her side, so she doesn’t have to move. No one suggests they move Nico. Even without the death-grip he has on his sister, he just looks too… happy.

Jason watches Nico, too.

“I call tomorrow night.”

**Author's Note:**

> Its been a hell of a couple of weeks. This has been bopping around in my head for a bit. Thought it would be fun to dump it out. Hope it made someone smile. :)


End file.
